MotoGP Germany: Marquez: At the moment, Jorge the strongest rival

Marc Marquez rates Jorge Lorenzo as his strongest rival for world championship honours at present; feels comfortable at this track due to dirt track experience.

Marc Marquez has rated Jorge Lorenzo as his biggest championship threat as he prepares to maintain a strong 24-point lead at the Sachsenring, a track at which he is undefeated since 2009.

Having taken advantage of the misfortune of both Movistar Yamaha riders at a soaking wet Assen, Marquez pointed toward Lorenzo's stellar form in the second half of 2015 as reason to remain cautious when assessing the ten races that remain.

"We know at the moment that Jorge is the strongest [rival of the Yamaha riders] because he is the closest in the championship. He will be really strong like we saw last year in the second half. So we need to take care about him. Also don't forget Valentino; he is further but not too far. He has been very strong in the races."

Asked if he could have envisaged commanding a 24-point advantage at this stage of the season when he was struggling for bike performance and confidence in preseason testing, Marquez said, "Of course I couldn't imagine this situation.

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"We struggled a lot in the pre-season and arrive now here at the halfway stage leading by 24 points. We worked really hard and got better and better, Honda us working hard and now start to arrive some new items that we will start to test in the next races. We'll see if we can make another step.

"We will try to keep the same mentality. Try to push if we can win, but in the end it is difficult to manage the risk to finish the races."

On the reasons why he feels he performs so well around the tight, compact curves of the Sachsenring, Marquez pointed toward the layout and his experience and habit of training with dirt track motorcycles.

"I don't know, maybe it reminds me of a karting track where we train on a Supermoto or when we were kids. Also I feel better on left corners, maybe from dirt track. We will see this weekend if we can keep the same level."